A pretty good phone in fairness (Nokia N96)

Member Name: Ace_Rimmer

Product:	Nokia N96
Date:	16/09/09 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great camera, great video, good music playback, large bright screen

Disadvantages: Buggy, case quality isn't ideal, no Mobile TV in the UK

The Nokia N96 is a smartphone released by Nokia in 2008, and is the mobile phone that i currently own.

The feature list is impressive, with a 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera, an 8GB hard drive with expandable flash memory, superb video features, a very clear large screen and decent musical capability. Add in WiFi, world maps, decent internet browsing, the very good BBC iPlayer app and with all the standard features you'd expect, and you end up with a good phone.

And that's really all it is. I'll try to explain.

The camera is excellent quality, with a good flash. Yet when taking photos you have to press and hold the take picture button for a couple of seconds, firstly to get the lens to focus correctly and then to take the picture. Hardly ideal for quick snaps.

The included memory is of a good size, easily enough for the casual user. Can fit plenty of songs on there, and the sound quality is good. No decent music player on the phone however.

The video capabilitites of this phone are it's main selling point. Video capture & playback is first class, and the little stand fitted around the camera lens is nifty. Mobile TV is also included, but there are literally no services for this in the UK, so it's a pointless feature.

The main problem with this phone is the software used to run it. Quite buggy and slow. A few examples:

- Phone will randomly turn itself off occasionally
- Phone will freeze, which you'll then need to remove the battery as the power button is also frozen
- Phone will slow to a crawl and you'll wonder why your cursor isn't moving, until the software catches up and the phone races through all your frustrated clicking

Other frustration is the build quality. The component features are high quality, yet the case seems cheap and plastic and has a high gloss finish. Looks nice, but slips from your fingers so easily because of this. The keypad feels very cheap & brittle, no soft rubber buttons.

This phone is a jack of all trades but masters only one, the video capabilities. Couple that with a lack of a touchscreen and very poor app availability leave this phone looking slightly old hat when compared to the iPhone 3GS.

Summary: Good phone, but lacks that extra wow facter